The Show Must Go On
by Hatgurl
Summary: AU! The Marauders are living it up as Rock Gods of the popular genre, Masq rock. They keep their identities secret, so the paparazzi can't get to them, but what about the people they care about who don't know who they are? JL SOC RT.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclamer: Before persisting foreward with this story, I would like to remind all readers that I don't own Harry Potter and this is a VERY AU story. Mmmkay? I'd also like to point out that I own none of the songs sang over the course of this fanfic.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 1**

"You shouldn't have done it."

"Don't you tell me what I shouldn't have done."

"Seriously, peepig like that's going to get your more than this next time if one of the girls decides to tell McGonagall."

"Yeah, you daft prick, besides, something tells me that the female creature is smart enough to see you pressed up against the window like an owl in heat more than once."

"Now don't you go siding with him!" Sirius protested angrily. "Don't you think that if you had the chance, you'd peep on Evans like that?"

James rolled his eyes. "Evans, Evans, Evans, do you really think she's all I think about?" The other three boys gave him a look that showed their answer undisputibly. "Oh, sod off!"

"Who's sodding off now?" asked Kingsley Shaklebolt as he entered the room, casually plucking at his fledgling afro with a small comb.

"All of us." replied Remus as he prodded the result of Sirius' peeping with his wand.

Peter laughed and snapped a picture of Sirius. Sirius swatted wildly at him but the little fat boy stepped away and snapped more pictures are Remus steadied him.

"Calm down you, do want me to give up on this and send you down to the Hospital Wing?" he threatened. Remus prodded him again and flipped through a basic healing book. "This should do it...degraduous!" Sirius cried out in pain. "Oops! Opps! Sorry umm...Oh! There we go, back to normal."

Sirius growled. Remus backed off slightly.

"Look on the bright side. Having a toucan's head could get you tons of hippie cult chicks." commented James. Sirius blinked his beady black bird eyes.

"Hmm...you think? Those girls are some kind of freaky!" he exclaimed hopping over his bed and walking over to the in-dorm bathroom. He examined himself in the mirror and ruffled his feathers.

"Alright, that's enough. Let's get you fixed up." said Remus walking into the bathroom with his wand. Sirius, having changed his mind significantly, backed off.

"No!" he exclaimed, pushing past Remus and running for the window, a rather stupid move considering that they were on the fifth floor of a seventh floor tower. He was abruptly tackled by Kingsley, James and Peter. "Gaaaaaaahhhh! I wan't my hippie cult chicks! _Cuckaw! Cuckaw!_"

Sirius managed to throw them off and make for the window again. He wrenched it open and got ready to jump out. Remus leapt at him and pushed him out of the way. "Mouonculus!"

Sirius's head returned to normal, but now he lay on the floor panting with the other boys feebly crying: "Cuckaw...cuckaw..."

James groaned and got up. He walked over to his trunk and pulled out some candy from Honeydukes. "Anybody want some?" he asked. Remus shot up like a flare. James held onto his sweets defensively. "Not you! You have your own! Last time I opened my trunk to you, you raped my entire chocolate supply!"

Remus pouted and then lay down again, resting his head on Sirius's stomach. Sirius sighed and stared pensively.

"What'cha thinking about Paaaaaaady?" asked Peter, face firmly planted on the floor.

"After wanting hippie cult chicks, and then losing my chance to be with them, I don't think I'll ever want anything again." he murmured melodramaticly. The other guys cast him the same sort of look they'd previously given James.

"Oh, come on, you'll be peeping in obvious places again by next week." said Kingsley in an attempt to be comforting.

"Or!...Or..." The other guys looked at James.

"Or what?" asked Remus curiously.

"We could find a way to make the girls come to us." he said triumphantly. Kingsley rolled his eyes.

"We're not going to be prostitutes James." he replied.

"Well you got a better idea? We're all good looking...'cept Remus and Peter." Sirius commented.

"Hey!" The two said in union.

"Peter's the only ugly one! I'm only a skinny nancy boy when I've got Wolfsbane in my system." It was true. While 95 of the time, Remus was a skinny, overtly tall study nerd who looked completely human, it wasn't him naturally. This look was acheived when the 'Lycanthropic Miracle Drug' Wolfsbane was created. Similar to the very recent Wolfsbane potion, Wolfsbane was injected directly into one's body by means of syringe and it reverted the Lycanthrope in question to a completely human form. For Remus this meant, hot, but not when anybody important was around. Dammit. Sirius had once said if Remus were to just hide his large pointy ears , wear caps over his fangs and contacts over his yellow eyes, he'd be able to pick up chicks with the best of them!

The other boys nodded in recognition to what Remus said, including Peter. Sirius giggled. "Moony has his vain moments." he said in a singsong voice.

Kingsley sighed. "If only we could lure women to us...like the Pied Piper did rats..." That set off a lightbulb in Sirius's pretty little head. He looked like he'd been divinely inspired.

"What kind of people do we know that get more chicks than anybody?" he said with a look in his eye that said that the cogs were turning in his head.

"Muggle Firemen?" murmured Peter.

"No, stupid! Rockstars! We're all of good musical ability...except Peter, but he's buisiness savvy! He could be our manager!"

Remus looked at him like he was crazy. "It's a nice fantasy, but you really are daft." Sirius smirked.

"That's only because you've got the best singing voice, therefore, you'd get stuck as lead singer, and you're shyyyyyyyyyyy." he taunted. Remus looked at him indignantly.

"I am not! And I don't sing!"

"Yes you do! Now do as I say or I shall taunt you a second time!" he roared. Remus huddled himself in a corner and tried to protest, but no avail, mainly because Sirius, James and Kingsley were now in a conga line.

"We're gonna be a rock band! HEY! We're gonna sleep with lad-ehs! HEY! We're gonna roll in mo-neh! HEY!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Guys, why're we doing this?" asked Remus as he plucked his bass boredly. He'd managed to dodge the title of lead singer when he mentioned it to a friend, Dorcas Meadows, who was in their house and their year and had managed to be proven trustworthy despite her friendship with 'The Enemy' AKA, one Lily Evans who seemed intent on bringing down every little scheme they came up with regardless of what nature. Dorcas, or 'Cassie' as she preferred to be called had jumped at the idea of a rockband and had asked if they had a singer yet. Remus said no. And thus, the boys were more than a little miffed.

Sirius, who it turned out was having more fun beating drums than he'd ever had beating Snape, seemed to have not heard him, but James had, and he shot the werewolf a glare. "Stop it. Just because you don't have any confidence it doesn't mean it always has to be that way. Now grow some cahones muchacho." he said firmly. Remus stared at him blandly.

"Muchacho? Do you even know what that means?"

"No." said James, just as firmly. Remus rolled his eyes.

"You tell him, Prongs!" called Sirius from the drums. Apparently he'd heard a little.

At the moment they were all in the room of requirement getting ready for their first real practice. He put his drumsticks down and walked over. James and Remus' eyes instantly hit what Sirius was wearing.

"Sirius..." James began raising an eyebrow. "Ummm...Sirius, is there something you're not telling us?"

Sirius blinked. "No."

"Then why are you wearing a skirt?" asked Remus curiously. Sirius frowned.

"It's not a skirt, it's a kilt!" he exclaimed Sirius pointing at it. "See! It reaches my knees and it looks cool! It's going to be my gimmick."

"Sirius, you're not Scottish." James pointed out. Remus nodded. Sirius frowned.

"Sure I am, by marraige!" he said firmly.

"But you're still not ACTUALLY Scottish." Remus said simply.

"I---"

"Sirius, you're about as Scottish as I'm white." Kingsley, who had just shown up with a guitar piped up. James and Remus nodded. Sirius sighed.

"Fine, but I'm not getting rid of the kilt. It looks cool." he said simply. The other boys exchanged glances as Peter came in with Cassie, who was wearing a hat that was large, purple and fluffy. The other boys looked at it curiously. She grinned and then dropped her hat. Her hair was blue.

"That's err...very nice, Cassie." said Kingsley looking rather confused. The only girl in the room beamed.

"Really, you like it? I wanna find a thing...and I think I should do it with my head." she said pointing at her head to emphasize the point.

"Wow." That was all the boys could say, and it was rather deadpan. Peter sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Come on, guys, Cassie's got the right idea. What's a succesful rock band without an image!" he exclaimed.

"Style over substance?" Kingsley offered. Remus nodded.

"Exactly! You guys are in it for the ladies, then do it for the ladies, who cares what you sound like if you look good!" Peter insisted. Peter was trying his best to be persuasive, because, as manager, he'd have to pitch the band, who'd decided to go for the easy option of The Marauders, and he already had a vision implanted in his messed up little mind of exactly what he wanted.

"Okay guys, if we wanna make any upcoming battles of bands and things of that variety, we're going to have to buckle down and practice!" cried James jamming a fist in the air. The other boys, and Cassie, seemed unfazed by this.

"Umm...Have any of you guys even considered how we're going to get on stage at any of the wizarding battle of the bands without anyone recognizing us, especially when most of them don't fall directly on Hogsmede weekends?" Remus piped up. The other Marauders' faces fell and they began to mutter about this and think of ideas.

Sirius gasped. "Easy!" The rest of the band looked at him in expectance. "We wear masks."

"Masks?" commented James. "That'll never work."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Ugh. I can't believe this, why did I even bother hanging out with you guys in the first place. If I'd have just stuck to my usual business that day in third year, we wouldn't be in this mess." grumbled Kingsley as the four original Marauders plus Cassie and Kingsley stumbled through the Forbidden Forest under James' invisibility cloak. It didn't really do much, considering it was draped over their heads and only covered down to their waists, so there were six pairs of legs without upper bodies wandering the forest. Sirius made a puppy-dog whimpering noise.

"Aww, Kingsley, you don't really mean that do you? Has two years of busom friendship done nothing to melt your black black heart?" he asked in a theatrically miserable voice. Kingsley elbowed what he thought was Sirius in the gut.

"Hey!" exclaimed Remus.

"Oh...Sorry, Remus. Elbow Sirius for me?" Remus nodded and elbowed behind him, getting the job done for Kingsley.

"Oh, suuuuuuure. Gang up against your _best friend_." grumbled Sirius. Remus shrugged.

"Kingsley's a good friend too. He doesn't try to feed me doggy treats." Remus pointed out as they kept walking. James snickered. Cassie cocked her head to the side under the cloak.

"Why would you try to feed Remus doggy treats, Sirius?" asked Cassie curiously. This immediately shut the boys up. They had yet to induct Cassie into their circle of secrecy, purely due to the fact that they didn't know her all that well yet. Cassie was pretty cool, but she hadn't quite proved her trustworthy...ness, in terms that Sirius would use. And so the boys tended to skirt around Remus' furry little problem.

"Well, it's just a thing..." Remus began but was interuppted by James.

"...so you'll understand in the grand scheme of things..."

"Were you there at the time?" Kingsley cut in.

"Twenty seven!" exclaimed Sirius.

Cassie looked thoroughly put off asking anymore of this. She just shrugged and kept walking.

"So, Sirius are you sure you know the proper path to Hogsmede without going through the Hogwarts gates and being spotted?" as they all walked around a rather large log, wary of the fact that it may be hollow and something might be hiding inside.

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I've got the Floo we need to get to that place in Yorkshire all set up in the Hogs' Head too. Old Abe got it set up for us in the blink of an eye. It's just down that path there." He said pointing to a rather foreboding grove of trees that blocked out the rather bright moonlight.

Peter whimpered. "Are you sure we have to go through there, Sirius?"

"Yup." he replied. Peter whimpered again.

"The price of fame." he cried. James reached forward and pat his head.

"Oh, Peter. You're the manager. You're not even going to be famous." he stated. Peter whimpered even louder.

"Shh! Peter! You'll sick a werewolf on us!" hissed Cassie in a loud whisper. Everything went eerily quiet and the six of them continued their walk to the Hog's Head in silence.

When they arrived at the Hog's Head, Aberforth Dumbledore had the fire burning brightly and every last patron cleared out, even the loyal drunks who never left the bar unless completely neccesary. It wasn't very hard to imagine the infuriated look on Rosmerta, the young barmaid's face when they all came wandering in after being shooed out of their usual haunt.

"Abe!" exclaimed Sirius after they pulled off the cloak and James shoved it into his bag. Aberforth gave the six of them a bemused look, apprasing, and rough.

"Where are your instruments?" he asked darkly. "If this is a scam, Black, that fire won't be green when I throw you in it." James quickly opened his bag to reveal a drum set, a bass, two guitars and a mike stand shrunken down to an extremely tiny size. "Alright. Get in the fire, I'll be here when you get back."

"The Raving Roonspoor!" cried James tossing the Floo Powder into the fire. He jumped in. The rest of the band and Peter followed. After the swirling warm sensation, they all landed with a thud in the back of a dark, seedy looking pub packed with people speaking in thick Yorkshire accent.

Peter stood up. "I had the owner reserve one of the bathrooms for us, come on." The band followed, trying not to be seen as they made their way to the bathroom. Once they got in, James opened the bag again and pulled everything out, sending their instruments out onto the stage at their normal size again. Then, the boys pulled everything out stuff concerning their appearance out.

"Alright guys, gotta be flashy, remember the outfits I had made for you?" he asked. "Where are those."

Remus grimaced. "Yeah...about that Peter...The only one who seemed to enjoy the idea of a purple sequin jumpsuit was Sirius...for some reason. We kinda decided to do stuff on our own." Peter looked extremely put off now.

"But...But..."

"_Peter_" Hissed Kingsley. Peter sighed and folded his arms.

"I'll be with the manager at the back, have fun." he said simply. At the moment they were getting dressed in the outfits they'd be wearing, it was nothing extravegant. James was wearing a black leather trenchcoat hanging open to reveal the two abs he was exceedingly proud of, a pair of ripped up blue jeans and black hightops. Sirius was wearing knee high black boots with his kilt and a black T-shirt. Cassie was wearing wearing about seven layers of shirts and a frilly pink skirt as well as about a million bangles on her wrists. She wasn't wearing any shoes either. Remus was wearing a black tank top and red pants with suspenders hanging down around his legs along with black sandals. Kingsley was wearing a white button up shirt with his Griffindor tie and a pair of green camo pants that were so baggy that they'd have looked like a skirt were they not tucked into his black trainers. They all seemed satisfied with this and had dubbed them their 'band' costumes.

"Mask time, guys." said Kingsley taking out what appeared to be a black pen. They'd agreed to do eachother's masks after reaching an understanding as to what they wanted, and they'd all sworn that they'd follow the designs given. James walked over and Kingsley started drawing on his face, he drew devil horns on James' forehead and then moved it down, around, over his nose and filled it in when he was finished. "Say the colour James."

"Red." The drawing on his face became a red mask that resembled the top half of a devil's face. He grinned. "Do I look awesome, or do I look awesome?"

"You look like a dickface in a devil mask, now do me." said Sirius stepping foreward. James rolled his eyes and drew a mask that looked sort of like a black butterfly with pointy wings over his eyes. This continued with Remus wearing a mask that resembled bat wings, Kingsley wearing a silver mask that looked similar to a white line over his eyes, and Cassie wearing a mask that looked sort of like what was around a raccoon's eyes except for the pointy long triangles running down her cheeks at the ends.

"Come on, guys. Lets get out there!" said Sirius excitedly. Remus stared at the stage as they headed out of their 'dressing room'. He was dying on the inside with terror. Thankfully he was only the bassist. Only the bassist? Why were bassists so damn unimportant!? Then again...He allowed himself to drift off in hopes that he'd forget about the packed crowd that had filled up the club.

As Cassie took the mike, some guy tossed a wad of twenty notes at her and yelled: "Show us your tits!" Cassie took the twenties and shoved them down her shirt.

"Not likely, and you're not getting these back!" she called back. "And if any of you douches ever try that again, I _will _come down there and kick your asses." The boys rolled their eyes. They'd expected stuff like this to happen, after all, who was going to take a bunch of kids in masks seriously. Surprisingly this was followed by a bouncer coming and taking the offending money throwing idiot away. "Alright, we're the Marauders and...this is the first song in our set." The guitars were charmed to play properly without amps. Kingsley strummed the first few chords and they were off.

"Oh, make me over  
Im all I want to be  
A walking study  
In demonology

Hey, so glad you could make it  
Yeah, now you really made it  
Hey, so glad you could make it now

Oh, look at my face  
My name is might have been  
My name is never was  
My names forgotten

Hey, so glad you could make it  
Yeah, now you really made it  
Hey, theres only us left now

When I wake up in my makeup  
Its too early for that dress  
Wilted and faded somewhere in hollywood  
Im glad I came here  
With your pound of flesh  
No second billing cause youre a star now  
Oh, cinderella  
They arent sluts like you  
Beautiful garbage beautiful dresses  
Can you stand up or will you just fall down

You better watch out  
What you wish for  
It better be worth it  
So much to die for

Hey, so glad you could make it  
Yeah, now you really made it  
Hey, theres only us left now

When I wake up in my makeup  
Have you ever felt so used up as this?  
Its all so sugarless  
Hooker/waitress/model/actress  
Oh, just go nameless  
Honeysuckle, shes full of poison  
She obliterated everything she kissed  
Now shes fading  
Somewhere in hollywood  
Im glad I came here  
With your pound of flesh

You want a part of me  
Well, Im not selling cheap  
No, Im not selling cheap..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Just a little note to everyone who's reading this. I do not write the songs that the band sings, like I said in the first chapter. That last song was Celebrity Skin by Hole. It's awesome, I suggest you go to YouTube or something and listen to it. The version of 99 Red Balloons in this chapter is the Goldfinger version. I suggest you listen to that too.**

**Chapter 4**

Masks, as it turned out, did work, as the owner of the club that the Marauders had played at for their first performance had recomended them to another owner who was in search of an act. Peter relayed this news to the rest of the group and they were elated to discover that they were in business. They were the real deal now. But there was something to dispute within the group that was making the group a little edgy. Some of them seemed to be uncomfortable with their particular instruments. Well, Remus was happy playing bass so he was trying to stay out of the conundrum. But James wanted to play bass and he kept telling Remus this. Cassie wanted to play guitar as well as sing, but she'd proven to the group that she couldn't do both at the same time. So now they were going through random switches, trying to see what suited eachother best. And it came to pass that Cassie was better at playing guitar than being a singer, so now the group didn't have a singer.

"Reeeemskie." James beckoned in a singsong voice. At the moment Remus was sitting up a tree on the Hogwarts grounds far higher than the rest of them could climb. Sirius had summoned James' broom only to discover that he'd broken a window in the process so now they were hiding it.

"For the last time, James, no! I don't want to sing!"

"But whyyyy Reeeemskie?" James whined.

"I could give you a million reasons why!" Remus shot back, folding his arms as he reached into his schoolbag and pulled out the syringe filled with Wolfsbane, that would help him maintain a more human appearance, at the moment he could feel its effect beginning to wane, so he was ambiguously attempting to stick it into his arm without anyone else seeing. Unfortunately the Wolfsbane syringe slipped out of his hand and shattered on the ground. Remus swore under his breath. From where James stood he attempted to repair it, but no such luck, there was probably a charm on the syringe set by one of the Healers that sent it to him from St.Mungo's.

"Well now you _have _to come down, Moony." said James firmly. Remus sighed and looked at his hand. His fingernails were becoming longer and pointed and his arm was becoming less boney. He felt his teeth lengthen in his mouth and his ears push back some of the shoulder length light brown hair on his head.

"Can you get the invisibility cloak?" he asked shyly as he fully reverted to his lack o' Wolfsbane form.While he was now as attractive as the rest of the young men he hung around with, save for Peter of course, he looked feral enough for people to be suspicious of what he truely was and Remus didn't like that. He watched carefully, making sure that if anyone got closer he'd disillusion himself. James left and returned some fifteen minutes later with the invisibility to find Remus clinging to a branch for dear life.

"What happened to you?" asked James curiously as Remus latched onto the trunk and climbed down carefully before taking the cloak from him and putting it on. James smirked at Remus, though he had only a general idea of where exactly he was.

"Branch broke." he replied dully. "Why're you smiling like that?"

"Becaaaaaaause in return for the favour of using my invisibility cloak to get back up to your Wolfsbane supply without anyone seeing you, you have to do me a favour and let me play bass, thusly becoming the lead singer of the band! Hear that? LEAD SINGER!" James cackled. Remus groaned and folded his arms under the cloak.

"That's not fair! You never ask for something in return for any of us using the cloak." Remus protested angrily.

"Well now I'm calling in all the times you owe me. Now you HAVE to be the lead singer of the band if you still want to be considered a good friend!" he exclamed, laughing at the expression that he was sure was gracing Remus' face. "You ARE a wolf of your word! BOUND BY HONNAH! I SUGGEST YOU LIVE UP TO THIS, SUH---"

What James didn't realize was that Remus had carefully walked away during the beginning of his speech, and so the new bassist of the Marauders was left to stand and ramble on and on thinking that the werewolf was listening intently. James merely looked like a skitzophrenic until Lily Evans found some variety of kindness in her heart to tell James that he was speaking to thin air, and James had to believe it, as he waved his hands around in an attempt to touch Remus and failed.

Remus had strode through the grounds careful not to hit anyone and keeping his eyes and ears open for anyone he might meet. He made it all the way back to the Griffindor Common room before taking off the cloak as he headed upstairs to the fifth year boys' dorm. Thinking he was alone, he flopped down on his bed and tossed the cloak onto James'.

"Who the hell are you." asked a voice. Remus yelped and jumped up instantly, looking around in shock.

"I-It's not what it looks like, I---"

"Wait...Remus?" It was Cassie. She cocked her head to the side from where she stood, leaning against the door to the dorm bathroom. That was Cassie, though wasn't it? She was prone to hanging out in the boys' dorms. And her mouth was hanging open. "Oh my God you're _hot._" The latter part of that sentance was in a disbelieving tone. Remus grinned sheepishly.

"Umm...yeah." he said, not entirely sure of how to handle this particular situation.

"But what's with these...fangs and stuff." she said with a total lack of shyness as she poked away at his face, analyzing all of his 'new' features with interest. Remus just sort of stood there uncertainly, letting her poke away. Then, Cassie's eyes widened in surprse and she looked at Remus with the upmost seriousness.

"Y...You're a werewolf, aren't you?" she whispered, her grey eyes staring into his animalistic yellow ones. Remus sighed and nodded.

"How did you guess?" he asked back, sarcastically.

"For how long?"

"Since I was five." he replied, looking at the floor. Cassie gasped. "Actually, everyone in the band knew but you."

Cassie's eyes widened. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well...to be honest, Cassie, I wasn't sure if I could trust you. You...You've kind of got a bit of a big mouth."

"I don't have to quit the band now, do I?" she asked in what appeared to be desparation. She'd just found out that her friend was a shapeshifting creature of the night and she wanted to know if she was still in their band. Wow. Remus was impressed.

"Well--"

"Please don't make me quit, Remus! Music is my life! Music is my LIFE!" Remus jumped back a little, startled by her enthusiasm. He put his hands up in a surrender-like motion.

"Woah. I never said that you had to quit the band!" he exclaimed. Cassie breathed a sigh of relief and hugged him.

"Thank God." she cried, squeezing him tightly. It was slightly muffled. "And I promise I won't tell. If I tell you can string me up by my thumbs in the dungeons."

Remus nodded. "Alright. I trust you. But we gotta get to practice now, and I need to find my Wolfsbane."

"Meh, leave it out, you look better. Besides, it's just us in the Room of Requirement." she said. "Grab the cloak."

Remus sighed. She was right, it wasn't like anyone would see, and he wasn't exactly in the mood to poke himself with a sharp needle anyway. Remus walked over to the cloak and put it on. The two of them walked to the Room of Requirement in silence for a litle bit.before Remus turned to Cassie, though she couldn't see him. "Umm...Listen, what you said about me being hot...er..."

"Oh, that was just a compliment. I don't like you, if you were wondering about that. Well, I like you as a friend, " she corrected herself. "But I don't like you."

"Do you like any of the other guys in the band, because that would cause problems." Remus asked curiously.

"Hell, it wouldn't just cause problems with the band, my girlfriend would kill me." she said shrugging. Remus' eyes widened. Wow.

"Girlfriend?"

"I'm a lesbian. Surprise! Does that bother you?"

"No, of course not. But why did you tell me now?" Remus replied honestly. The young werewolf could hardly discriminate in the state that he was in, could he?

"Figured I owed you a confession too." She replied conversationally.

"Do the other guys know?"

"No, but you can tell them if you want." Cassie didn't seem bothered by this, but then why had she stayed in the closet so long?

"Alright." he said as they stopped infront of the Room of Requirement and watched the door materialize. The two bandmates stepped inside and Remus dropped the cloak by the door. The rest of the group, including Peter, was there already and James was clutching the bass with a wide grin on his face. Kingsley noticed the lack of the syrem instantly, and he looked at Cassie wide eyed.

"You found out?" he asked in surprise, looking to Remus who nodded. Cassie strode over to her guitar and attempted to remember the correct tuning spell. Sirius jumped up and down excitedly from behind his drum set.

"Woooo! No secrets anymore!"

"I'm gay!" cried Cassie. Sirius ran over to her and they danced in a circle excitedly.

"I'm bisexual!" he cried as well. James at the moment looked very solemn. Which was a first for James. All eyes turned on him as he gave them all forlorn glances.

"Guys, listen. I value your preferences in life but I have to say this...AFTER PRACTICE LET'S GO TO THE MUGGLE WORLD AND PICK UP CHICKS!"

"Woo!" cried all the Marauders save for Remus who was checking his microphone and quizzing himself on the song that James had written and given him the lyrics and tune to were there the chance that he might actually be the lead singer.

"Alright guys, lets stop monkeying around and get to practicing." said Kingsley walking over to his guitar and getting ready. "You ready" He asked looking over at Remus curiously.

"Yeah..." he replied softly.

"HIT IT!"

The band started playing and swallowing his pride, Remus began to sing.

"You and I in a little toy shop  
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got  
Set them free at the break of dawn  
'Til one by one they were gone  
Back at base, bugs in the software  
Flash the message, something's out there  
Floating in the summer sky  
Ninety-nine red balloons go by."

The tempo changed, the music became louder and harder, Remus stood stalk still, trying to envision himself somewhere else, but he felt good to know that he wasn't going back on his word. Remus could never go back on his word. He took a deep breath and began to sing the next verse.

"Ninety-nine red balloons  
Floating in the summer sky  
Panic bells, it's red alert  
There's something here from somewhere else  
The war machine springs to life  
Opens up one eager eye  
Focusing it on the sky  
As ninety-nine red balloons go by."

Remus chuckled at the lyrics as he finished the next verse. James was quite good, but then again, the other Marauders all had sufficient creative talents as well so they wouldn't leave the songwriting up to one person all the time, that wouldn't seem right. Remus had to admit, the idea of being the hot, rugged, mysterious lead singer of a rockband was an enticing idea, but he wouldn't let his mind wander. After all, who would buy into a werewolf trying to be a frontman? Despite this, he found himself getting into it.

"Ninety-nine decisions treat  
Ninety-nine ministers meet  
To worry, worry, super scurry  
Call out the troops now in a hurry  
This is what we've waited for  
This is it, boys, this is war  
The President is on the line  
As ninety-nine red balloons go by."

Oh God, Remus realized as he continued to sing. He liked this, he really really liked this. It made him feel good, and it made him feel like, were they a rockband that could hide their true identities to the general public, Remus could explore parts of himself that he'd been afraid to let out. A rougher, more bold, exciting Remus that he'd kept locked up out of shyness. This was the perfect outlet. Where else could he do it? He smiled brightly as he found himself dancing to the music as he sang, but not the sort of dancing that you'd usually see him do to music. All quiet and occasional swaying. This was full on, violent, moshing rock music dancing. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the rest of the band chuckling to themselves in knowing that he'd found his niche. Gone were the days of constant shyness. It was time to have fun.

"Neunundneunzig Kriegsminister  
Streichholz und Benzinkanister  
Hielten sich für schlaue Leute  
Witterten schon fette Beute  
Riefen: Krieg und wollten Macht  
Mann, wer hätte das gedacht?  
Daß es einmal so weit kommt  
Wegen neunundneunzig Luftballons  
Neunundneunzig Luftballons

Ninety-nine dreams I have had  
And every one a red balloon  
It's all over, and I'm standing pretty  
In the dust that was a city  
I could find a souvenir  
Just to prove the world was here  
Here it is, a red balloon  
I think of you and let it go..."


End file.
